This has been a labour of love and thanks to the art funding via the Mangere Otahuhu local boards who made this publication possible through their generous support. I'd also like to mention Sally, the arts broker and also Sonia who manages the Mangere Town centre library as their neat support has also contributed in making this publication possible.
It's been a neat experience but also daunting in trying to get a variety of voices from Mangere with varied backgrounds and especially for those who have been writing for a while but haven't been able to find a publishing outlet. I hope that this publication will inspire them to continue but also to inspire others within the community to keep striving and working towards their goals.
Many of the group have been writing and serving within the community of Mangere either having worked or lived, studied or shopped there and I am so very proud and humbled to have assisted in editing the book to its final form.
The actual cover of the book brought together some of the things that I love about my local community: with Mangere Mountain, also known as 'Te Pani o te Mataoho' in the background with the airport (and lookout tower). In the foreground is a small waka (outrigger canoe) where I first learned waka ama then a symbolic Marae like Te Puea which was the first Marae I visited as a child with the lines representing market gardening which was prevalent in Mangere many years ago. The coconut tree symbol depicts the 60% of Pasifika peoples who live in Mangere and the cross represents Christianity as in Mangere being one of the suburbs that has many churches in South Auckland. 275 representing the prefix of our early suburban telephone numbers and the blue koru pattern represents the family i.e. of the older generation and the younger generation. The brown lattice type structure depicts the Mangere Arts centre that gives space for the arts to thrive in Mangere.
Still so much to do but neat that we are almost there...
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